Reminder device



Juy 14, 1959 R. H. THORNER REMINDER DEVICE Filed Ap-ril 9, 1956 INVENTOR. ,055,67 hf mom/51 United States Patent Office 2,3%,335 Patented July 14, 1959 REB/[UNDER DEVICE Robert H. Thorner, Detroit, Mich.

Application April 9, 1956, Serial No. 576,987

7 Claims. (Cl. 35--66) The present invention relates to a memorandum or reminder device which may be used to contain live-notes at al1 times and utilizes in the inventive combination permanent writing and erasing means of the type in which the writing is made visible by the adherence of a light colored writing sheet onto a dark base or ground sheet.

Numerous live-note reminders have been and are currently available which are made of paper pads having perforated sections, whereby each memorandum note is written on a separate section and torn out after the note is no longer live However, such paper 1ivenote reminders are clumsy because the notes are not always taken care of in their written sequence whereby a number of irregularly spaced paper sections are relatively free and become cumbersome to handle since they tend to bend or curl and hence are difficult to Write on. In addition, these paper reminders must be relatively thick to start with and must be replaced frequently.

While it is known in the art of permanently erasable writing pads to provide means to erase separate portions thereof, such devices to date have been inherently of cumbersome and complex structure to an extent that makes it difficult or even precludes their use as a small memorandum device which is sufficiently Athin and small to lay tl'lat in a purse, clothes pocket, desk drawer, or the like.

It is a main object of the present invention to provide a memorandum or reminder device which includes in the inventive combination permanently erasable impression writing means having a main base sheet coated with a plastic impressionable material and a plurality of separate exible impression portions or strips each comprising an lopaque member to show the writing and wherein each of said opaque strips may have acorresponding transparent protecting portion or strips on which the actual Writing is done, and in which combination novel means are provided to erase the writing by separating each one of the opaque strips from the underlying plastic base.

A particular .object of the present invention is to provide in the combination according to the preceding paragraph a-separate erasure means for each separate opaque istrip in which each 4erasure means is manually operable on the front of the device, and is carried or supported and lguided by the respective strip.

' -Other objects and .advantages will become apparent in the following description and from the accompanying `drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal side .edge view of the device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 1, showing, however, less number of writing strips; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of another lform of the eras- .iing means of the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, a form of the device is shownl by way of illustration as comprising a base 1-1,

a plurality of impression strips such as the strip 13, a protecting cover for each of the impression strips such as the cover 15, and an erasing member or eraser hereinafter described for each of the pair of impression and protecting strips such as the erasure or erasing member 17. Each pair of the protective and impression strips are jointly secured at their extremities to the base by suitable fastening means as by staples 19 as shown, or by gluing means, sewing means, etc. In order to prevent the edges and corners of the strips from catching or bending and to provide for easy sliding when the device is inserted in a clothes pocket or a purse, the two end pieces or covers 21 enclose the base and stripends as illustrated. The entire assembly of the covers, the base and the strips may be stapled as shown, or the strips may first be stapled to the base and the covers glued thereto, or any other suitable fastening means may be employed.

In the preferred form shown in Figs. 1-4, the erasers are made in the form of a thin band of any suitable material such as metal or plastic and are wrapped around each of the pair of protecting and impression strips to be carried or supported thereby.

The memorandum device may be provided desired, with a writing member such as a stylus 2.3 made, for example, of wood or plastic, and a stylus retainer 25 is provided in the form of thin paper, cardboard, or thin metal to enclose and carry the stylus when not in use. The stylus retainer as illustrated is secured to both sides of the base as by staples, gluing, sewing, etc., as shown best in Figs. 2 and 3.

The impression strips in cooperation with the base generally comprise a temporary live-note writing device wherein the writing thereon may be erased almost instantly and without injury thereto, so that the device may be used repeatedly.

The base member 11 is made of any rm inflexible material such as cardboard having on a surface thereof a coating of a colored and relatively plastic material such as a wax having pigment therein. Although the plastic material should be firm, it should be suiciently plastic to receive impressions made by the writing instrument through the impression strips such as by the stylus 23. The plastic material should be non-drying so it will be permanently relatively soft, and preferably the plastic material is sprayed on the base while the parts are in a heated condition so that the material thickness is substantially uniform.

The impression strips generally comprise thin and flexifble sheets of transparent material which in one form presents a smooth outer surface, whereas the surface conl tacting the plastic material may be treated to provide su-bstantially a rough and semi-opaque contacting face. When such material is subjected to writing on the smooth surface, the roughened face adheres to the plastic material on the 'base underneath the writing, which adherence eliminates the opaqueness of the written portions, so that the colored base is clearly visible through the written portions to appear as writing.

One manner in which the impression strips may be treated to produce the rough semi-opaque face is to mix a commercial type of synthetic enamel or lacquer having opaque pigment therein such as a white color with a suitable diluting fluid to produce a thin mixture having a milky appearance. The diluting iiuid may be a volatile solvent of the material from which the impression strip is made. For example, for a cellulose impression strip a lacquer thinner may be used such as Amyl acetate, for example. The diluted mixture may be applied to one face of the impression strips by air coating to provide a thin coating of very ne particles on the surface. In operation, when the impression strips are subjected'to'writing on the smooth surface thereof, the particles on the opposite side of the strips become temporarily embedded or impressed into the surface of the plastic material to make the written portion of the strips transparent. When the impression strips are separated from the base by the erasing members, the strips are again opaque and the writing has been erased In order to protect the impression strips from damage by the stylus or other writing means, the cover strips 15 of srnooth, tough, and Wear-resisting exible material such as Celluloid may be provided to cover each impression strip. The cover material must be transparent and should be ilexible enough to transmit writing thereon to the corresponding impression strips.

It is important to appreciate that in all figures shown the thicknesses of the various parts are exaggerated in order to clearly show the relative positions of the various working parts which are so thin that their relationship would be diiiicult to show if drawn in true scale. For example in the early units made of my invention, the base was made of cardboard about .035 thick, the impression strips were about .002l thick, the covers l5 of Celluloid were about .004" thick, the erasing members were made of .008" thick metal about 1A. wide, and the protecting edge covers 21 were made of a tough papercloth material .008 thick. The total thickness of the assembly at the side edges (which are the thickest portions) was less than 1/16". Although any suitable material may be used for these parts as explained above, it is important that they be very thin in order to provide a reminder device which can be carried easily in a clothes pocket, purse, etc. Such desirable result is facilitated by the above combination of elements, and in which combination by particularly having the eraser members supported and guided by the paper strips as shown. The erasing members are made so thin and light that they easily can be carried and guided by the paper strips themselves. In adddition, the device having the combination of elements above described lends itself to extremely low cost manufacture so that if the reminder wears out after considerable use, it is inexpensive to replace.

The operation of the device above described is extremely simple. First, the erasing members are set at either extremity of travel as in the positions of 7a, 17b and 17C ofY Fig. l. Then the various reminding notes are written at any time on respective strips of the device to produce writing as above described. Then as each note is taken care of and is no longer live, the erasing member 17 corresponding to the strip on which that note is written is moved along the strip manually to the opposite extremity thereof, thereby separating the impression strip from the base to erase the note. Again another note is written on the same strip and the eraser is moved inthe opposite direction to erase this note when it has been taken care of. in this manner, all notes on the board are live-notes.

I have found that in order to move the erasing members 17 it is only necessary to rest the bottom of a nger (particularly the index iinger) lightly on top of the eraser and move the finger in the direction to erase the writing. This is possible because the eraser is so light and the top surface thereof in contact with the nger offers substantially more friction than the contact of the metal or plastic erasure with the smooth surface material of the base. This effect may be made even greater by providing a roughened top surface for the eraser such as serrations, Vknurling, or dimples, and/or providing an eraser of the type to be described in relation to Fig. 4. Ifdesired the edge portions of the erasers contacting the base may be made smooth with slightly rounded edges to facilitate easy sliding.l

In Fig. 4a modified form of the erasing member band 17d is illustrated in which the center portion underlying the strips 13 and 15 is raised slightly (such as .005) to clear the portion of the base underlying the strips adjacent the base, so that the erasers contact the base only at the lowered extremities of the band as shown, thereby extending the life of the plastic base and making the eraser easier to slide.

What l claim is: l

l. In a reminder device, a base member having a relatively dark colored material thereon capable of being impressed, a plurality of separate semi-opaque impression strips arranged in parallel alignment on said base member with minimum space between said strips and adapted when impressed against said base member to adhere thereto along the lines of impression and Where adherence occurs to become transparent so that the base member color shows therethrough, and a corresponding plurality of slidable erasing members, one erasing member for each of said strips, each of said erasing members including means projecting between its corresponding irnpression strip and said base member to separate same for erasing said lines when said erasing member is manually moved lengthwise along its respective strip, means to secure each of said strips at two opposite extremities thereof to said base member, and protecting means covering said secured extremities to prevent the edges of said strips at said secured extremities from tearing or bending as a result of normal handling of the device.

2. ln a reminder device, a base member having a relatively dark colored material thereon capable of being impressed, a plurality of separate semi-opaque impression strips arranged in parallel alignment on said base member with minimum space between said strips and adapted when impressed against said base member to adhere thereto along the lines of impression and where adherence occurs to become transparent so that the base member color shows therethrough, and a corresponding plurality of slidable erasing members, one erasing member for each of said strips, each of said erasing members including means projecting between its corresponding impression strip and said base member to separate samev for erasing said lines when said erasing member is manually moved lengthwise along its respective strip, each of said erasing members being wrapped around its said strip to be solely carried and guided thereby for manual movements from the front side of the device, means to secure each of said strips at two opposite extremities thereof to said base member, protecting means covering said secured extremities to prevent the edges of said strips at said secured extremities from tearing or bending as a result of normal handling of the device, and each of said erasing members including portions contacting the base member adjacent the sides of the corresponding strip and holding theportion of the erasing member beneath the strip out of contact with the base member.

3. In a reminder device, a base member having a relatively dark colored material thereon capable of being impressed, a plurality of separate semi-opaque impression strips arranged in parallel alignment on said base member with minimum space between said strips and adapted when impressed against said base member to adhere thereto along the lines of impression and where adherence occurs to becometransparent so that the base member color shows therethrough, a corresponding plurality of transparent protecting strips of durable ilexible material superimposed on said impression strips, one said protecting strip for each impression strip, whereby writing applied lto said protecting strip is transmitted therethrough to cause said adherence of said impression strip to said base member without permanent alteration of said corresponding impression strip, each pair of vsaid impression and protecting strips being secured-only at'their ends to said base member, and a corresponding plurality of slidable:- erasing members, one erasing member for each of said pair of strips, each ofsaiderasingimembers including vmeans projecting between its correspondinggimpr'ession strip land said base memberto' separatesamefor erasing said lines when said erasing member is manually moved lengthwise along its respective pair of strips, each of said erasing members being wrapped around its said strip to be solely carried and guided thereby for manual movements from the front side of the device, and means to secure each said pair of said strips at -two opposite eX- tremities thereof to said base member, and protecting means secured to said base member adjacent two opposite edges thereof corresponding to said secured strip extremities to cover said secured extremities of all of said pair of strips for preventing the edges thereof at said extremities from tearing or bending as a result of normal handling of the device.

4. In a reminder device, a base member having a relatively dark colored material thereon capable of being impressed, a plurality of separate semi-opaque impression strips arranged in parallel alignment on said base member with minimum space between said strips and adapted when impressed against said base member to adhere thereto along the lines of impression and where adherence occurs to become transparent so that the base member color shows therethrough, and a corresponding plurality of slidable erasing members disposed to be carried and guided solely by said strips, one erasing member for each of said strips, each of said erasing members including means projecting between its corresponding impression strip and said base member to separate same for erasing said lines when said erasing member is manually moved lengthwise along its respective strip, and each of said erasing members being formed to contact said base substantially only at the sides of its corresponding strip.

5. In a reminder device, a base member having a relatively dark colored material thereon capable of being impressed, a plurality of separate semi-opaque impression strips arranged in parallel alignment on said base member with minimum space between said strips and adapted when impressed against said base member to adhere thereto along the lines of impression and where adherence occurs to become transparent so that the base member color shows therethrough, and a corresponding plurality of slidable erasing members disposed to be carried and guided solely by said strips, one erasing member for each of said strips, each of said erasing members including means projecting between its corresponding impression strip and said base member to separate same for erasing said lines when said erasing member is manually moved lengthwise along its respective strip, and each of said erasing members including portions contacting the base member adjacent the sides of the corresponding strip and holding the portion of the erasing member beneath the strip out of contact with the base member.

6. In a reminder device, a base member having a relatively dark colored material thereon capable of being impressed, a plurality of separate semi-opaque impression strips arranged in parallel alignment on said base member with minimum space between said strips and adapted when impressed against said base member to adhere thereto along the lines of impression and where adherence occurs to become transparent so that the base member color shows therethrough, and a corresponding plurality of slidable erasing members disposed to be carried and guided by said strips, one erasing member for each of said strips, said erasing member comprising a band surrounding at least partially said impression strip, one portion of said band passing between its corresponding impression strip and said base member to separate same for erasing said line when said erasing member is manually moved lengthwise along its respective strip, said portion of said band adjacent to the front side of said respective strip being disposed for manual contact to accomplish said erasing movement, and each of said bands being formed to contact said base member substantially at the sides of its corresponding strip, an intermediate portion of each of said bands being raised out of contact with that portion of said base member underlying its said strip to reduce the wear on said underlying active surface portion of said base member.

7. In a reminder device, a base member having a relatively dark colored material thereon capable of being impressed, a plurality of separate semi-opaque impression strips arranged in parallel alignment on said base member with minimum space between said strips and adapted when impressed against said base member to adhere 'thereto along the lines of impression and where adherence occurs to become transparent so that the base member color shows therethrough a corresponding plurality of transparent protecting strips of durable exible material superimposed on said impression strips, one said protecting strip for each impression strip, whereby writing applied to said protecting strip is transmitted therethrough to cause said adherence of said impression strip to said base member without permanent alteration of said corresponding impression strip, and a corresponding plurality of slidable erasing members disposed to be carried and guided by said strips, one erasing member for each of said pair of strips, each of said erasing members including means projecting between its corresponding impression strip and said base member to separate same for erasing said lines when said erasing member is manually moved lengthwise along its respective pair of strips, all of said erasing members being disposed to be manually movable from the front side of the device, and each said pair of said impression and protecting strips being secured at two opposite extremities thereof to said base member, and a protective member mounted adjacent each of the two opposite edges of the base member corresponding to said secured strip extremities to cover said extremities of all of said pair of strips to protect the edges of said strips from tearing or bending in normal handling of the device.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,543,430 Fischer June 23, 1925 1,568,548 Edelson Ian. 5, 1926 2,074,855 Paasche Mar. 23, 1937 2,198,347 Mitnitzky Apr. 23, 1940 2,367,608 Ponnock Jan. 16, 1945 2,596,890 Dechert May 13, 1952 2,663,093 Lipkin Dec. 22, 1953 2,676,035 Frallic Apr. 20, 1954 2,697,884 Dechert Dec. 28, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 164,571 Switzerland Dec. 16, 1933 

